Obama did lie, Obamacare will insure illegal immigrants

September 10, 4:03 PMCharlotte Political Buzz ExaminerAlex Harper

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AP Photo Ron Edmonds

Despite President Obama's promise to the contrary during last night's health care speech to Congress, Obamacare's insurance exchange will, in fact, insure illegal immigrants.

Said Obama last night: "There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants.  This, too, is false.  The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." Apparently, the president has never heard of a little something called "unintended consequences." Just because you don't specifically provide for something's occurrence, doesn't mean that it won't occur. (In related news, "South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson says he can't be blamed for last night's outburst, because he didn't actually intend for anybody to hear him").

As Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner pointed out at the end of last month, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) disagrees, and had this to say about H.R. 3200, the reform bill approved just before the August recess by the House Energy and Commerce Committee:

"Under H.R. 3200, a 'Health Insurance Exchange' would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option…H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange."

Tapscott explained further: "CRS also notes that the bill has no provision for requiring those seeking coverage or services to provided proof of citizenship. So, absent some major amendments to the legislation and a credible, concrete enforcement effort in action, looks like the myth on this issue is the one being spread by Obama, Reid, Pelosi, et. al."

Unless Obama's version of Obamacare is markedly different from the reform bills submitted thus far, it looks like Joe Wilson, though out of line (as discussed here), was right: Obama did, in fact, lie last night. Or, at the very least, misrepresented to Americans the potential consequences of his reform proposal.

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